Memphis Bey
Memphis Shanar Bey was born on the 320th Day of the year 5263 After Founding (Nov. 16th, 1663 W-23 dating) to Alshaya Bey of Cairo and Malcom Delashire of Gaul. Memphis was the first Bey in nearly two thousand years to have the active ATCG-843 gene that categorized the child as one of the “Blessed”. A second son, Aminus, was born nine years later, though his ATC-843 gene was dormant, as was the couples’ daughter, Jophrian Bey. Malcom Delashire, a wealthy merchant from Gaul, was disappointed that Memphis was born Blessed as the custom for the Gaul was that inheritance was passed along the male line, whereas in Khemet it followed the female line. With the birth of Aminus, Malcom felt relief that his families business would continue for at least another generation. Alshaya, on the other hand, was insistent that the couple continue attempting to have children until a female heir to carry the Bey name was born. The ATCG-843 Gene is a hereditary gene from the matriarchal lineage that enables one of the “Blessed” to manipulate the energies around them for various uses, including healing for an extended lifespan. While every person on World One has the ATCG-843 gene, it remains dormant in 98% of the population, though it is only passed to children through the mother. The Bey line, founded in One AF with the other Noble families, was the most inconsistent lineage to produce “Blessed” offspring, often two or three generations would pass before another child with abilities was born. The last Blessed member of the Bey line was born in 3214 AF, Ahmad si’Dian Bey, and fell in combat during the Second Caste War when the Portal War between the Weavers began to escalate. Each of the 30 Noble families, the families of the Royal Apothecary, were provided with a stipend to ensure that the lineage continued to produce Blessed children to serve the Castes. At this time the Blessed were coming into power across the globe, most nations feared their empowered members even though they were displaying powerful gifts of healing. For the first century after the Founding of the Khemet Empire, it was believed that the males carried the active gene markers to produce more children with abilities, but after several generations of rampant reproduction, it was discovered that only the females passed the active genes along to the offspring. By 500 AF each female member of the Noble families was allowed to have as many spouses and children as possible to produce enough heirs. Even Noble women without the gene active were capable of passing along the gene and producing Blessed children, and for each child a stipend was paid from the coffers of the Pharaoh to ensure that each family would continue to produce off-spring without a financial burden placed upon them. The stipend, however, was paid only to the female members of the lineage, as the males were unable to pass the ATCG-843 gene to their children. By 2300 AF the Noble Families closed membership in the title, nearly seventy family lines were considered ‘noble’. The various families descended from the Nobles were granted Lord status, though it was only bestowed after petitioning to the Pharaoh and the Nobles. Admittance to the Nobility itself was only granted when a family line was without a female heir and the last descendant passed. After the death of Ahmad si’Dian Bey, the Bey line became dormant, some believing an illegitimate child had been introduced to the line to cause the dormancy. Though the Pharaoh continued to subsidize the Bey line, it was becoming evident that the lineage had become a “dead” line and was in danger of being stricken from the Noble Families. With the birth of Memphis the line’s Nobility was restored and the belief in the sporadic nature in the family line confirmed. The strength of ability demonstrated in the Blessed members of the line led to the incorrect belief that only a child with abilities would be born with a sufficient level of strength and purity in the lineage was achieved. Scientifically this was proven wrong, though the Mediators responsible for gauging the power of a Blessed child were at a loss to explain why the infrequent Bey children were more powerful than their contemporaries. Memphis was not an exception to this rule, his abilities and raw power outstripping even that of his Master, Cho-Shien Liao, who was considered to be the most advanced of the Ahn-Nafhier and the founder of the Hunter Caste. In 5275 AF, Memphis Bey was inducted into the Ahn-Nafhier and assigned to Cairo Citadel for the decade of initiate training to the Caste. During his first year at the Academy, Memphis suffered though the humiliation of having come from a “dead” line as the other students originated from more consistent family lines, though he managed to avoid any direct conflicts from the other students. In his second year Memphis became a pariah to his fellow students after violating one of the core tenants that no Blessed should raise the dead. During a training exercise in the Himalayan mountain range one of the students in the four member team lost their grip on the safety line and fell forty feet, breaking their back. By the time Memphis and the other two reached the fallen student it was obvious that he was quickly fading. Memphis, like the others in his class, only had a rudimentary medical knowledge, and attempted to heal the damage done by the fall. The others, aware that their teammate was near death, stopped providing healing support to allow the student to pass naturally, though Bey was unwilling to stop. Bey managed to bring the student back to life, re-energizing the brain and heart after death, which resulted in the resurrection of a mindless brute that he was now forced to kill once more before it escaped. By law none of the Ahn-Nafhier were allowed to restore the dead to life, as in each case the creature that woke was not the person who died. The law was rarely enforced as only a few members ever had the raw ability to resurrect the dead. When the team was extracted, Bey was forced to admit what happened to his instructors and when word spread of what took place, his fellow students kept their distance from him, not sure what to make of a Second Year with the ability to raise the dead. The remaining time at the Academy passed unremarkably, though Bey scored high enough marks to continue his secondary training as a Defender. Assigned to Highpass Citadel in the Tribal Nations, Bey spent five years under the tutelage of Master Filmore Bascome, who promoted the young Ahn-Nafhier to the rank of Protector. Bascome recommended Bey to serve under Cho-Shien in hopes that the aging Master would find Memphis a skilled enough apprentice for him to pass along his centuries of knowledge. Master Cho-Shien readily accepted Bey as his student, aware of the incident during the training exercise, and began the arduous training regimen that he himself underwent. Within two decades Memphis was skilled enough to advance to Guardian stature, though he was still several years younger than the minimum requirements. Both men traveled the Tribal Nations extensively, Cho-Shien trying to instill the values of the ancient Ahn-Nafhier in his student. With his training complete and Memphis ready to proceed on his own as a Protector, Master Cho-Shien offered to train him to overcome the effects of the Inhibitor devices, a training that he underwent and that only the most skilled could partake. The Master made it clear to Bey that the training would be beyond anything he had undergone, and was very plain about the fact that Bey will have broken every bone in his body before they were done, but if he succeeded, none of the standard containment methods would be effective against him. Advance tactics training (5290 AF): Bey agreed to start the training, and was quick to discover that Cho-Shien hadn’t lied, as on the third day his left shin was broken during an exercise. The training site, located on Bhatet Island, was a reinforced cave, the walls lined with inhibitor generators to cancel out Bey’s abilities, forcing the student to adapt to the cancellation waves while under attack from his Master. For three years the two men continued the training, each session resulting in nothing less than a dislocated joint, though often a session was ended when Bey was knocked unconscious or broken a limb. As time progressed Bey found that he was able to focus his energies to create a shield to deflect the energy attacks of his Master while under the influence of the inhibitor fields. It wasn’t until Bey was able to successfully defeat his Master in energy combat that he was advanced enough to counteract the effect of the inhibitors entirely, Cho-Shien deciding that Bey would be one of the first Hunters that the Ahn-Nafhier produced, a program that was still nearly half a century away from being launched. 5310 AF: Bereavement leave to attend funeral of parents. Meets Aminus’ family. Promotion to Guardian Rank (5338 AF): On his Seventy-Fifth birthday (5338 AF) Memphis was granted the rank of Guardian, the earliest that such a rank could be granted, and was assigned to the northern Tribal Nation as his patrol territory, returning once a year to Cairo for evaluation and training sessions. By the time he reached one hundred, Cho-Shien, now the Headmaster of Bhatet Island, suggested that Bey join the instructor ranks on the island, focusing on advanced energy manipulation (5363 AF). It was there that Memphis met his future wife, Lena Bagosian, a Shok-Natal Healer who was misclassified to keep her abilities within the Church. Though she was aware that she should have been Ahn-Nafhier, when Memphis offered to take her into their ranks, she refused on the grounds that the Church suited her, though it was apparent that Lena had no love for the military arm of the Church, the Shok-Natal. Bey continued to provide her the training required to be an Ahn-Nafhier, though he was ordered by the Church not to. Lena, also intrigued at the combat training, continued to receive instruction over the decades, returning often to Bhatet Island when she could. They were married on the Island shortly after their two hundredth birthday, the first marriage for both of them. The Church agreed to the marriage believing that the offspring of two such powerful Blessed would be beneficial to their Caste. But both Memphis and Lena were not planning to have children any time in the foreseeable future, if at all. Unlike most marriages between the Blessed, the pair never divorced, Memphis having credited both of their off-world work with their Castes as the secret to their long marriage. “It seems like every time we start to really get on each other’s nerves, the Universe conspires to send us off-world. We might go to bed angry, but we never once went off on assignment in the middle of a fight.” – Quote attributed to Lena Bagosian from Freehold Lord Decious shortly after the Reformation of the Church of the Light. Training Secundis at Bhatet Island (5420 AF) (Needs citation) Expedition to World Nine (5472 AF): Memphis Bey accompanied Weaver Loric Jamison on an expedition to World Nine in an attempt to gather samples of the only non-human life discovered in the Multiverse. Shortly after discovering the Portal Coordinates to World Nine, the Weaver Guild deployed their planetary Orbers to study the planet in hopes of using it as a prison colony. A thick layer of carbon dioxide and methane gas prevented detailed scanning and evaluation of the lifeforms on the surface, which meant that a live team would need to be sent. To avoid drawing too much attention to them, Jamison selected a small detail consisting of a Guardian, Bey, and a Defender, Lucius Mavellian. If the situation warranted, Jamison reasoned, a larger expedition could be sent at a later time. Shortly after arriving on World Nine the trio discovered the entrance to a Xizhan Hive. Startled by the presence of off-worlders, the Hive reacted to the three men as swarms of Xizhan drones were released to defend the structure. The battle was short lived, though the three men wore combat armor, the claws and teeth of the quad-armed Xizhan ripped through the ceramic plating they wore. Mavellian was killed while attempting to hold the Xizhan back while Bey provided protection for Jamison to complete the Portal back to World One. Bey attempted to retrieve Mavellians’ body while Jamison fled through the Portal, but was unable to reach the fallen Defender. It was on his way through the Portal that Bey fell to the Xizhan attack, his back plate ripped from him, the claws of the Xizhan gouged deeply into his back as both the Guardian and Xizhan fell through the Portal. Quickly put down by the soldiers on the other side of the Portal, the Xizhan was dissected in hopes of learning how and why this unique life form developed rather than humans. The Weaver Guild deemed the World off-limits and unsafe for human habitation, the quarantine of the planet would remain in effect until they were able to establish contact with the Xizhan. Assigned to Cairo Citadel (5473 AF): Shortly after recovering from his wounds, and still unable to conduct classes on Bhatet Island, the Cairo Council formally requested that Memphis fulfill his Caste obligations and sit as a councilmember for at least one term. Aware that Bey was sworn to Cairo and unable to provide a plausible reason to the contrary, Master Cho-Shien was forced to reassign Bey to Cairo. Though seated as a Council Member, Memphis was still assigned tasks by the Pharaoh’s Agents as the need arose. Meeting Decious at Conclave (5487 AF): Once a year each of the Citadels sent a representative to the Conclave, the annual gathering of Council members to discuss initiatives and legislation that involves the Caste as a whole. At the annual Conclave in 5487 AF, the gathering took place at High Reach Citadel, one of the few Citadels within Cache-Motain territory. Since the Conclave took place within the territory of the High Reaches Freehold, Lord Decious was invited to attend as a matter of protocol and transparency. Though most of the other members of the Conclave gave the Cache-Motain Lord a wide berth, Memphis and Decious became quick friends, establishing a relationship that would provide useful to the Lord during the Third Caste War. Shortly before his 250th birthday the Hunter program was finally given the green light, the approval granted after a renegade Ahn-Nafhier Defender slaughtered over half of the small village of Sianpang in the Mohng Empire. Two Protectors were assigned to bring the renegade back to Cairo to stand trial, but both were killed in the ensuing pursuit. Once described as ‘tanks’ due to the Defenders’ ability to absorb inordinate amounts of energy attacks, the Protectors underestimated their targets offensive capabilities which led to their failure. Master Cho-Shien was tasked with recapturing the Defender, returning the wounded soldier to face charges and ultimately, executed. The Cairo Citadel saw the need to have a unit capable of hunting down renegade Ahn-Nafhier, or any other Caste, without mobilizing an entire strike force, which amounted to an invasion of sovereign territory. The Fall of Seventeen (5524 AF): For twenty-eight days Bey and three squads of Defenders fought to reclaim World Seventeen from a lethal virus that was spreading across the Shok-Natal held World. The Ahn-Nafhier debated for nearly three weeks to send support to Seventeen, a world which three centuries earlier signed the Separatist Compact that effectively banned all but the Shok-Natal from World Seventeen. In the end it was decided that the Ahn-Nafhier could not forgo their charge to render aid when called upon, and in total two hundred Guardians and nearly twenty thousand Defenders and Protectors were sent to Seventeen. Once the Ahn-Nafhier arrived on site, the Church and Shok-Natal began their evacuation of their territories to World One, aware that their hold over the planet would no longer be allowed to continue. The Council and the Weaver Guild sorely underestimated the effect of the virus on the population as even seemingly unaffected citizens suddenly converted into Ravagers, a phrase adopted later during the official accounts of the Fall. Unable to hold the cities under their protection, the Ahn-Nafhier eventually withdrew to smaller and more easily defendable towns while sending out recovery teams to find any uninfected survivors. Memphis led what remained of his soldiers through the countryside as they attempted to lead their convoy to the evacuation site, dogged by ‘Ravagers’ along the three hundred mile journey. Attempting to hold up at Felisgate, the last defendable outpost of the Ahn-Nafhier, Memphis reorganized his troops and re-tasked the remaining soldiers to push through the city to one of the last evacuation Portal before the World was placed in quarantine. The death toll, last recorded in5552 by planetary Orbers, was nearly 8 billion lives. “I was just trying to get my men back in one piece,” Memphis admitted during his after action report, “no one wanted to be left behind on that World. I sure didn’t….Lena would kill me.” Reassignment to Cairo Citadel(5525 AF): Considered a hero during the evacuation of Seventeen, for a second time Memphis was assigned to Cairo, although this time it was at the request of the Pharaohs’ Agents. The Agents, the public presence of the Pharaoh, asked Memphis to rejoin the Council as the Pharaoh was having concerns about the loyalty of certain Citadels. Bowing to the will of the Pharaoh, Bey reclaimed his council seat, though this time in Council would be cut short by the Third Caste War which was on the horizon. Third Caste War (5529-5533 AF): The Third Caste War began on the 17th Day of the Year 5529 with a massive Portal incursion of Shok-Natal Shieldcasters and heavy artillery directed at Myall River Freehold in Oceania. Memphis would spend the first three years of the war as a non-combatant, only entering the war after the Cache-Motain violated the Rules of Engagement and took non-combatants hostage. Fall of South Riverbend Freehold (5532 AF): Memphis was assigned to the Cairo Citadel during most of the Caste War, his position as Council Member exempting him from combat even though he petitioned the Council and the Pharaoh’s Agents to allow him to step down to help fight the Shok-Natal. It wasn’t until the Cache-Motain forces at South Riverbend Freehold, a small supply facility, captured a Church of the Light convoy of Healers and held them hostage against the Rules of engagement that Memphis joined the battle. All of the combatants universally agreed that during times of combat that Weavers and Healers, regardless of affiliation, were deemed non-combatants and free to move about war zones provided that no weaponry was discovered. Regular searches of such convoys were commonplace, but when Legate Preallis captured once such convoy intending to use them as hostages, Memphis stepped down from his role of Council Member and launched his own assault on the Freehold. The Agents of the Pharaoh, after being notified by Weaver Jamison of the fact that Healer Lena Bagosian was one of those being illegally detained, authorized Memphis’ actions retroactively. The Guardian, transported to the Freehold by Jamison, met with Legate Preallis and demanded the release of the hostages. The Legate, aware that his actions would be cause for discipline if discovered, refused and began to lock down the Freehold. Though the Freehold was protected from invasion by the use of Gravity Beacons, Jamison was able to focus enough energy to punch a hole through the main gate of the Freehold, allowing Bey to assault the outpost while the Weaver returned to Cairo for reinforcements. Bey, aware that the Legate would be forced to either release or terminate his prisoners to avoid persecution, decided not to wait for reinforcements. The Cairo Council finally agreed to send a detachment of Defenders to assist in the recovery of the hostages, nearly six hours after Jamison returned to Cairo. By the time the soldiers arrived at South Riverbend Freehold, they discovered that of the two hundred and fifty Cache-Motain, only eighty-nine survived Bey’s assault. The wounded Cache-Motain were sent to High Pass Freehold for medical attention, the freed hostages returning to Cathedral Citadel for debriefing. This was the only time that Memphis regretted not training Lena to overcome the inhibitor fields, though he felt that the training was horrific enough to have permanently damaged their marriage. As it was, Lena was simultaneously horrified by the destruction wrought by her husband, but proud that he would do such a thing to ensure her freedom. Analysis of the personal Scout Orber that Jamison tasked with tracking Memphis showed the carnage that took place, from the initial injection of combat stimulants to continually drive the Guardian forward to his use of any available weapon he could find. Running through his own personal ammunition fairly early on, Memphis took weapons off of the dead where he could and continued to fight hand to hand until he found the hostages. Legate Preallis’ corpse was found outside of the prison area, the mans’ own knife embedded in his temple. As Memphis refused to file an after-action report, the Orber that Jamison used and the internal footage from the security system were the only records of what took place within the Freehold. Examination of the records absolved Memphis of any retaliatory action from the Cache-Motain as well as cementing Lord Decious’ decision to form an alliance with the Guardian to try and stop Arturius Secundis’ forces from devastating civilian and military targets throughout the Tribal Nations. Battle of Sharraf Tul (5533 AF): The Battle of Sharraf Tul, or Defense of Sharraf Tul, was the last military action in the Third Caste War. The surprise attack by Shok-Natal forces led by Arturius Secundis came two days after the signing of the Armistice that signaled the end of the war. Sharraf Tul was a port city on the outskirts of Cache-Motain territory, and though they were aligned with the Cache-Motain they maintained their status as an open city to allow supplies to continue to arrive for the Tribal Nation. Secundis and two hundred of his Shieldcasters smuggled themselves into Sharraf Tul via modified shipping containers, waiting until the middle of the night before launching an attack on the defenseless city. Angered by the Church agreeing to the peace treaty against the express wishes of the Shok-Natal High Command, the attack was equal parts retribution against the Cache-Motain as it was a declaration to the Shok-Natal that even if the Church surrendered, they would not. Bey, Decious and Jamison managed to track down Secundis and his forces, arriving at Sharaff Tul just after the attack began. Decious would lead his Cache-Motain forces to engage the attacking army, the soldiers with him some of the first of a combined Cache-Motain strike force from various Freeholds. Until the fall of South Riverbend Freehold a year earlier, the Cache-Motain traditionally preferred isolationism, each Freehold to fend for itself. Decious, realizing that it would only be as a unified force that they could hope to fight back, gathered willing soldiers from any Freehold that would fight. For the next year the trio and their combined forces of Cache-Motain and Ahn-Nafhier harried the Shok-Natal, pushing them from their footholds in Oceania and the Tribal Nations. Pursuing Secundis into the city dockyards, Bey managed to corner his opponent and the two engaged in single combat, both aware that the losing commander would forfeit the field of battle. Attempting to invalidate the battle, Secundis tried to stall for time as a contingent of Shieldcasters made their way to the pair. Using an exposed power conduit, combined with charging the air in the crater that the two men fought, Bey defeated Secundis and used the conduit to electrify the soldiers that were trying to save their commander. By the end of the battle Arturius Secundis was captured, along with one hundred and twelve Shieldcasters and two Monks. Civilian casualties reached nearly a third of the thirty thousand people living in Sharraf Tul. It would be another year before the port and the city were completely rebuilt. Assignment to Bhatet Island as Hunter Headmaster (5543 AF): Bey returned to his post as Council Member in Cairo, but found that the direction the Ahn-Nafhier were heading was against his beliefs. Raised to follow the customs of the Ahn-Nafhier, Bey felt that it was important for every member of the Caste to patrol on foot to learn customs and integrate themselves into society. The post-war Council felt that the direction of the Ahn-Nafhier was to follow that of the Shok-Natal with a centralized governing body. For another five years Memphis tried to resist the idea of a permanent council, the independence of the Citadels was fading as more and more sought to take part in the new centralized government. Frustrated and out-voted, Memphis stepped down from the Council and renounced his allegiance to the Citadel. The Pharaoh, having green lit the Hunter Project almost sixty years early, met in secret with Master Cho-Shien and assigned Memphis to Bhatet Island as the Headmaster for the Hunter programs. Readily agreeing, Cho-Shien accepted Bey’s allegiance to Bhatet Island immediately. Gaul Incursion and Evaluation of World Twenty-Three (5548 AF): Between training sessions, and often during, the Pharaoh took advantage of Bey’s new status to send him on numerous missions that only Hunters would be capable of achieving. One such mission took place in the outskirts of Briteon, Gaul, where the Shok-Natal were attempting to disrupt the twice yearly solstice celebrations. The arrival of Bey and his contingent of Defenders prompted the retreat of the Shok-Natal forces, the Church not willing to risk combat around a religious site, even if it was a Pagan religion. Following several assignments to capture rogue Blessed, Bey was then assigned to travel to World Twenty-Three to apprehend a pair of Shok-Natal renegades and evaluate the technological state of W-23. Fighting with the renegades outside of Kingman, Arizona in 1952 (local date), Memphis allowed himself to be captured by the soldiers that arrived to claim the wreckage of the Shok-Natal repulsion skimmer. He was then brought back to Groom Lake where he spent the next six months monitoring the state of their technology. Bey often visited W-23 before this, small vacations and explorations throughout the years. After departing Groom Lake, Bey returned with Lena twice before 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy by suspicious circumstances caused Bey to reevaluate his relationship with the military and Groom Lake, deciding to sever all ties to the now covert base. Establishing the Wardens (5562 AF): While Bhatet Island welcomed members from all Castes to participate in advanced training and to share knowledge, Lena Bagosian suggested to her husband that a sub-group be formed from the Healer factions. Even though anyone with sufficient abilities were required to swear allegiance to a Caste, there were those whose powers were meager enough to allow them to slip through the cracks, as they were unable to manipulate the world around them or even cast offensive energy bursts. Most of those in question were operating in the territories as midwives or small town doctors, their healing abilities augmented by traditional learning to allow them to blend in and help where they could. Lena suggested they be trained to help revitalize the planet, the training at Bhatet Island modified to teach these new ‘Wardens’ how to use their abilities to encourage growth in the outer territories where climate change was taking its toll. Within two years dozens of Healers as well as the lower class ‘gifted’ began training at the Island, the numbers of Wardens growing with each cycle. Rogue Weaver on World Seven (5620 AF): Between training cycles for the Hunters and Wardens, Bey was often sent on missions by the Pharaohs Agents who were more than willing to take advantage of a Hunter not sworn to a Citadel. In the sixty years that passed the Agents often commented on how the Citadels were changing, gossip suggesting that the Ahn-Nafhier might eventually attempt to break from their traditional roles as the defenders of the kingdom of Khemet and seek their own space as the Cache-Motain had. The Cache-Motain invested heavily in off-world colonization, working closely with the Weaver Guild to develop new technologies that would allow the Caste to operate on Worlds without atmosphere for extended periods of time. It appeared for a time that rather than find a new World in the Multi-verse that the Cache-Motain might well leave World One altogether for one of the outer worlds they colonized. In 5620, at the request of the Weaver Guild, Bey departed World One to World Seven for a ten week tour of duty in an attempt to track down a renegade Portal Weaver who broke with the Guild. Travelling by any means available, Bey examined each of the eight locations that were hidden from the Orbers by Gravity Beacons before finally coming to the conclusion that the renegade was not only on World Seven, but never existed. While he prepared to question Jamison and the Guild upon his return home, Bey learned that the Cache-Motain and most of the Guild, had fled from World One to World Twenty-Three. It was discovered that prior to the Cache-Motain departure that W-23 was suffering from a virus similar to the Purity Virus that claimed World Seventeen. __FORCETOC__ Category:Characters